Democrats and establishment media are blaming FEMA’s poor Hurricane Helene response on Republicans who opposed a lame duck spending bill – despite FEMA’s administrator stating unequivocally the agency has all the money it needs.
The Kamala Harris campaign has led the finger pointing at Republicans who voted against a September funding bill that included appropriations for FEMA – among hundreds of billions for additional projects across the federal government, much of which the Republicans view as wasteful, woke, and contributing to the nation’s poor economy.
That September bill easily passed, and the FEMA administer has made clear that however one might judge its initial response to Helene, funding is not to blame. “I have funding and sufficient resources to support the ongoing responses to Hurricane Helene as well as Hurricane Milton,” FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters Wednesday.
That hasn’t stopped Harris’s campaign from politicizing the disaster. The campaign account posted on X a list misleadingly titled “Republicans who voted against FEMA funding” which included the Republicans voting against the September CR – insinuating those Republicans did not care about disaster relief.
The Republicans opposed the legislation for a number of reasons, most notably its funding for a grab bag of leftwing giveaways.
The bill included tens of billions of dollars in research grants from science agencies to universities for initiatives for “equity,” DEI, “gender-affirming care,” and fighting “racism” in fields of study like geoscience and engineering.
Funding in the bill also included billions of dollars in grants to nonprofits that enable illegal immigration by providing social services, transportation across the country, and connections to employment. Conservatives also point out the infrastructure programs funded by the bill disproportionately fund urban transit in Democrat strongholds, subsidize “road diets” and bike lanes that create congestion for drivers, and fund road-destroying EV buses.
Conservatives also point to Green New Deal initiatives in the Department of Energy and EPA funded by the massive bill, as well as funding for arts and entertainment – like the ritzy Kennedy Center in Washington, a hotspot for members of Congress.
It isn’t just domestic spending. Conservatives also opposed the robust foreign aid in the bill, much of which goes towards promoting leftwing nonprofits that spread the left’s social agenda abroad.
Many Republicans also objected on principal to the timing of the extension.
Most concerning, the continuing resolution extends government funding to the lame duck session – after the November election, but before a new Congress (during which majorities in the House and Senate are likely to switch) and before a new president takes office.
During this time, Congress is expected to pass a massive omnibus spending bill. The September CR’s opponents argue that bill’s extension to December will enable Democrats to avoid voter scrutiny, passing a bill after the election but before the voters’ most recent choices to govern take office.
Republicans had pushed to use the end-of-September funding deadline as leverage to enact concessions from Democrats, who along with some Republicans who have enjoyed directing government largesse throughout their careers, were content to push the major decisions until the lame duck sessions.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), among others, wanted a six-month CR paired with the SAVE Act – a bill to prohibit noncitizens from voting. That bill through mid-March would give the new Congress and administration the chance to choose spending levels and policy priorities. Other Republicans advocated pairing a six-month CR with a border security bill, like the House-passed H.R. 2.
Ultimately, those efforts did not make it past the House, and were almost sure to fail in the Senate, where Democrats hold a majority and Republicans tend to avoid rocking the boat. And the three-month CR favored by Democrats and the Biden administration passed before the deadline.
Republicans who voted against the three-month CR were willing to stay in Washington and continue negotiations. But in an election year, most members, including Republicans, prioritized getting back to their districts to campaign, regardless of the contents of the bloated spending bill.
FEMA has long been a bipartisan target of Congress, which has accused it of mishandling multiple disasters, most notably Hurricane Katrina. The agency has also come under fire in recent years for using funds to aid illegal immigrants under the justification of humanitarian assistance.
Those criticisms are likely to continue.
FEMA’s response to Helene is likely to continue for many years and cost billions of dollars, and the time to measure both the agency’s full efforts and Congressional response and oversight will come at a later date. But if Democrat and media criticism of the agency’s initials missteps has been directed at Republicans, expect the same politicized fingers to point in that direction for the duration.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.